The archives of the articles, reviews, interviews and other ramblings written by Sarah E. Jahier (aka Fatally Yours).

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Interview with Goth-Industrial Band God Module

Don’t ever change
I like it spooky

Zombies eating brains
I like it spooky

Serial killers
And the insane
I like it spooky

Angry ghosts
Rattling chains
I like it spooky

-”Spooky” by God Module off their Let’s Go Dark album

How can any self-respecting spooky kid resist those lyrics? It’s like
a horror-lovers’ anthem! Not to mention that a wicked sample of Trash
(Linnea Quigley) from Return of the Living Dead appears throughout the track asking “Do you ever fantasize about being killed? Do you ever wonder about all the different ways Of dying…you know, violently?” as well as her famous “I like it spooky” line.

This song is not only representative of all the horror fiends out
there, but it also shows what the goth-industrial/harsh EBM band God
Module is all about. Founded by Jasyn Bangert (vocals, synth,
programming), God Module also consists of fellow horror-lovers Byron C.
Miller (vocals, live keyboards) and Courtney Bangert (vocals, live
keyboards), and all three like it spooky!

As the creepy creators of “spooky dance music”, God Module has released the albums Artificial, Perception EP, Empath, Victims Among Friends EP, Viscera, Let’s Go Dark and recently released their new album The Magic in my Heart is Dead.

God Module has been one of my favorite bands for quite a long time,
and it certainly was a pleasure to have the opportunity to chat with
members Jasyn and Byron about crazy tour stories, their favorite horror
movies and what is next for the band!

Fatally Yours: Welcome Jasyn and Byron! I’m very excited to have the opportunity to interview one of my favorite bands!

Tell me, before God Module, what musical experience did you have?

Jasyn Bangert: When I was 14 I started playing
drums. No formal training at all other than music class in middle
school. I just played along to records like Misfits Walk Among Us and Ramones Rocket to Russia
over and over again until I could play them. I was in an assortment of
attempts at punk and death rock bands off and on while in high school
but they never really worked out for too long. My interests in gothic
and synth pop music brought me to be exposed to industrial bands. After
hearing 242, Leather Strip, and Skinny Puppy I had no choice, I pawned
my drum kit and bought an old shitty Alesis drum machine and set out to
learn how to make electronic music and find out what the fuck MIDI
meant.

Fatally Yours: Jasyn, you released God Module’s first album,Artificial,
in 2000 before Byron and Courtney were in the band. How did the dynamic
change after they joined the band in 2002? And Byron, how was your
experience with joining the band?

Jasyn Bangert: Originally God Module was
collaboration between one of my high school friends Andrew Ramirez and
myself. At the time we met we both were really into Belgian new beat,
techno and Ambient music. Looking back on those times its hilarious how
little we knew about making a CD when we created “Artificial”. The
stories of how we recorded our vocals on that release would scare most
people who have a clue what they are doing musically. Sadly, people
change and our friendship ended, as did his time being a part of God
Module. Courtney had actually always been in the band since the first
CD. I am very drawn to ideas of duality and the addition of clean,
female vocals to my effected vocals was always part of the plan. With my
music, lyrics and vocals I always try to exist somewhere in between
good and evil, light and dark. I think the female vocal tracks really
help to do that. Byron joined God Module after Andrew left due to my
need for another live member. We have grown as a live band together
since then and I feel Byron has really matured as a performer from where
he was when we started. He also contributes vocals in the studio from
time to time, as well as handling half the vocal duties live.

Byron C. Miller: I joined the band right around the completion of the Perception EP. I knew Jasyn wanted do something a little different with the next album Empath,
and that we shared a great love for Horror in film and literature, and
how well the genre can be used to explore, just as much as entertain. It
only seemed natural that Jasyn would want to use horror as a backdrop
and have always pushed for it in the music. Come to find out Jasyn was
thinking the same way. My overall experience in God Module is an
evolution in live performance. The music and themes convey very powerful
emotions and I always strive to really give an intense physical
interpretation on the stage. I also do what I can behind the scenes to
contribute to the albums by writing some lyrics, contributing vocals,
finding many of the samples, and in general sitting there with Jasyn as
he’s putting the song together and making suggestions.

Fatally Yours: Can you tell us about your main influences/inspirations when performing and/or writing material?

Jasyn Bangert: When it comes to mood and imagery I
am very inspired by artistic imaginaries such as Clive Barker, David
Lynch, H.P. Lovecraft, Joel-Peter Witkin and Mike Mignola to
name a few. I find myself drawn to these people because they seem to
touch on places and experiences that “normal” people cannot begin to
comprehend with their art. It’s not just personal or expressive but it
is otherworldly at times. Performing live I think that my stage persona
is very unique in the type of music we make. I don’t try to emulate
anyone else when I am onstage. I use my physical stature to become a
reflection of the music I create. In doing so, I take a very
animalistic, intimidating, monstrous approach to my stage persona.

Byron C. Miller: In performing live I strive to completely transform into something inhuman, evil.

Fatally Yours: Many of your songs are influenced by horror
movies and it is obvious you are all big fans of horror. What are some
of your favorite horror movies?

Jasyn Bangert: Some of my favorite horror films are: Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its sequel, Phantasm, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Halloween, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser 1 and 2, Lord of Illusions, Stewart Gordon’s Reanimator films, Dagon, From Beyond, Return of the Living Dead 1, 2, and 3, Pumpkinhead, Trick R Treat, The Resurrected, etc., etc. I am also an insane Jason Voorhees fan, so I love all the Friday the 13th movies but, Part 6: Jason Lives is my favorite, followed closely by Part 7.

Byron C. Miller: I have many favorites for many different reasons, here’s a taste: Dust Devil, John Carpenter’s Halloween, The Thing, Night of the Creeps, Dawn of the Dead (‘78), Return of the Living Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (‘78), Near Dark, Fright Night, The Haunting (‘63), The Exorcist, Re-Animator, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (‘86).

Fatally Yours: Was there any specific moments and/or events that made you the horror fans you are today?

Jasyn Bangert: When I was really young I saw the trailer or TV spot for Phantasm
somewhere and I became obsessed with seeing it. I bugged my Mom
constantly, every day trying to get her to take me to see this movie.
From a very young age, I couldn’t wait for Saturdays so I could watch Creature Feature
on Channel 50 in Detroit, where I grew up, in the suburbs. So it wasn’t
that I had never seen a scary movie, I just had never seen anything
other than what was shown on TV, which was mainly older Hammer or
Universal films with the occasional 50’s B monster movie thrown in. So I
think my mom finally gave in and took me to the movie in hopes that it
would scare the shit out of me and I would shut up…and it did, I
couldn’t walk past a mirror for a long time without expecting the tall
man to jump out and grab me. Rather than turning me against being scared
of things, it did the total opposite. I loved that feeling even more
than ever and that is still going till this day.

Byron C. Miller: I attribute a lot of it to growing
up for half of my childhood in Owensboro, KY. It’s a small town with
plenty of legends and ghost stories, and my Grandma on my Dad’s side
would always tell me of these stories and I could never get enough. Her
house at the time was haunted and located on a hill next to an abandoned
cemetery. Sometimes it’s like I was a kid in a horror movie and I loved
every moment; I love to be scared! The late night horror host Sammy
Terry was my hero, and Halloween was always my favorite holiday. I would
even build haunted mazes in my room and have the neighborhood kids go
through them. I suppose it’s just in my blood.

Fatally Yours: On the subject of horror, could you give our
readers examples of your songs that directly relate to the genre and
what inspired you to write them?

Jasyn Bangert: From the beginning, God Module has
been directly tied to horror in the sense of the majority of the themes I
use in my song writing are in one way or another connected to the
genre. Even our first CD, Artificial, which many people place in the sci-fi category is mainly based around ideas I got from movies like Aliens, Event Horizon, and Cube. After that CD, the title track on the Perception
EP is based in the paranormal and uses ideas like telekinesis and ESP
to express other more personal matters hidden in the words. This has
become very synonymous with my work with God Module. I take extremely
personal thoughts and feelings that I need to expel from my own self. I
just use very dark imagery through words to get these things out of me.
So while a song that seems like it is about the end times of the world
(“Skeptical”), evolving into a fish person in Innsmouth (“Forseen”), or
murder and rape (“Lucid”), they just might really be about very
different aspects of my personality at their core. Then there are songs
that are more obviously inspired by specific horror films I love like:
“Your True Face” (Nightbreed), “Orange and Black” (John Carpenter’s Halloween), and “Brains” (my favorite zombie films like Return of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, etc., etc.).

Byron C. Miller: The song “Spooky” had an interesting evolution. Jasyn and I had always wanted to sample Trash and Suicide from Return of the Living Dead. When Jasyn sampled the “I like it spooky” line I started thinking of what the lyrics to such a song would be. I left a voicemail one day with the phrase “Don’t ever change I like it spooky.”
This was a message to everyone that’s a little different to always be
themselves. It was an anthem for everyone, and for myself as at the time
I had just gotten out of a relationship that made me feel like I
couldn’t always be myself. Jasyn liked it and thought that it could be
the basis for a song that was not only a message, but also a fun tribute
all things Horror that we enjoy. It would be like a trip through a
haunted house. He then wrote the first verse, I wrote the second verse
and the rest is history. I like that despite it’s more tongue in cheek
approach, “Spooky”, like all God Module songs, is about much more than
what it appears on the surface.

Fatally Yours: On your many tours, what has been your most memorable concert experience?

Jasyn Bangert: There have been many. One of my
Favorites was when we toured with the Mexican EBM band Hocico as part of
the Out Of Line festival throughout Germany. At the time I was such a
fan boy of Erk and Racso’s music that it was unreal to be driving around
Europe on a bus performing with them every night. Sitting on the side
of the stage watching Hocico every night after our set was over is
something I will always remember as being fucking amazing. Also a lot of
the early shows we did with my good friend Alex Matheu’s band Negative
Format are very special to me.

Byron C. Miller: It’s a tie. Playing the WGT
festival in Germany, performing for about 5,000 people was amazing and
so much fun. However I don’t feel that I had reached my full potential
at the time, and in a way that show and its success helped give me the
strength to finally become the performer I always knew I could be. So
the tie is with performing at DAS BUNKER in Los Angeles. The last two
shows (this might be considered a threeway tie…) were just great. Such
emotion and power from the crowd, and something overall about that venue
just really makes me come alive. I love it!

Fatally Yours: Do you have any favorite venues/cities you just love to play?

Jasyn Bangert: Das Bunker in Los Angeles because the
crowd is always fucking crazy! Sadisco* in Arizona is really cool too.
When we first played there they asked me if I had a choice which movie
would I want to play a concert in and of course I said The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2..because
who wouldn’t? So when we got there they had turned the club into a
rendition of the underground world beneath the old the Texas Battleland
amusement park the Sawyer family lived in. Bones, Christmas lights and
body parts were everywhere. They even had one room set up like the
dinner scene. Then of course playing bigger festivals like Wave Gothic
Treffen, Kinetik, Infest etc are always really fun. Not only is it nice
to play in front of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people but
getting to see and perform with many bands we are fans of or friends
with or both is awesome.

Fatally Yours: If you could pick any bands that you would want to tour with, who would they be and why?

Jasyn Bangert: I would have to say I would need a
time machine to get the full effect out of this question. With that said
the incarnation of the Misfits when the line up consisted of Doyle,
Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only and Robo. Their music has been such a huge
inspiration on so many aspects of my life. I would even settle for the
opening spot for Danzig on tour for their first record. Runners up
include touring with The Cure for Disintegration on the Prayer Tour,
Christian Death for Only Theater of Pain, Skinny Puppy for Too Dark
Park, Front 242 for Front By Front and Marilyn Manson for Antichrist
Superstar.

Byron C. Miller:
Calabrese, it would be fun to tour with a great Death Rock band.
GhoulTown for the same reason as Calabrese. Imperative Reaction, because
they’re awesome and it would be lots of fun to hit the road with our
friends Ted and Clint and the gang, and we’ve been talking about it
forever, time to do it!

Fatally Yours: Oh yes please! Those would be great tours! So, tell us about your new EP, The Magic in My Heart Is Dead which is out now!

Jasyn Bangert: The new EP is based around 4 new God
Module songs that after finishing I felt were strong enough to be
released as their own entity and not part of the next CD:

“The Magic In My Heart Is Dead”: This songs title, which is also the
title of the EP, comes from the name of a painting done by my good
friend Ashley Kitchens. I was inspired by her work to write a song that I
planned on using as the instrumental opening for our upcoming shows. I
ended up simply speaking the words – “The Magic in My Heart is Dead” –
on the song and I really liked the way it turned out. The title of her
painting really appealed to me at the time. There were things I was
dealing with in my personal life that had left me feeling as if parts of
me had in fact died. I see this song as a funeral march of sorts.
Mourning the loss of a very important person in my life and also as
chance to become stronger from my own loss.

“Skeptical”: Is about the doubt, anger and fear I experienced after
losing a very important person in my life. There were times when I felt
like I was not sure I would ever be able to get over what I was feeling.
Of course at times like these people are quick to tell you how these
feelings will pass and in time they do. But this song is not about that,
rather it is about me expressing my desire to be nothing like these
people who can easily accept such things and move on. While I believe
everything that does not kill us does make us stronger, I will never
accept the belief that things happen “for a reason” or that any part of
being born, growing old and dying is fair or just. There are many
magical things to experience in life but at the same time no matter what
your belief or faith is, you have to accept that we are brought into
life to lose it and everything else we find while we are alive. That is
how we are made and how the cycle of life works. And it’s really catchy
and you can dance to it!

“Art”: In this song I used metaphors such as film and my nightmares
to express some very intense emotional problems I was experiencing when
writing the song. These are far too personal to detail here but let’s
just say the lyrics “I’m breaking, I’m falling apart, all for the sake
of my art” in this case were very true
“A Minute to Midnight”: Is a dark, twisted Halloween song about
spooky sex and depravity. Right now I think it is close to being my
favorite God Mod song I have ever done. While it’s nowhere near the most
complicated or meaningful song I have written, I love the fact that
it’s really deceiving in that at its core it is written simply as a pop
song but at the same time it’s very perverted and kinda fucked up…well
depending what you’re into I guess.

I
also did a cover of the Gary Numan song “Me! I Disconnect from You”. It
has been one of my favorite songs for over the last 20 years and i have
always wanted to break it apart and recreate it in my own image so to
speak. There are also remixes by some amazing artists and I did a more
club oriented remix of our song “Spooky”. To sum it up, people can
expect a crazy, fucked up ride through the haunted and sometimes
deranged chambers of my brain. That every once in a while will show them
that there might be a light at the end of their own fucked up tunnel.
The trick is that I try to make the things hiding in the dark so
appealing that they will lose all interest in ever wanting to leave.

Fatally Yours: What kind of touring have you done or do you plan to do for the new EP?

Jasyn Bangert: We just finished a 24 date US tour in
support of the EP. Overall it was an amazing success. We played some
really big shows and a couple very small shows but they all were really
fun. In June this tour will continue with 4 shows in Mexico followed by 3
shows in South America. Also we are already planning our next tour in
support of the new CD that I am working on now.

Fatally Yours: What kind of hardware/software do you use to create your music?

Jasyn Bangert: My current studio is based around my
PC running Cubase 4. I use far too many software synths, samplers and
insert effects to name them all. Hardware wise I have a Korg MS2000B,
Access Virus B, EMU Audity 200 and X-treme Lead 1 all hooked up into my
mixer for the new CD.

Fatally Yours: I love all the movie samples you use within
your songs. Do you find a sample and build a song around it or do you
search for samples to fit into song after it has already been written?

Jasyn Bangert: Sometimes a scene in a film or
television show will just stick out right away and I will know I have to
use it in a song. Other times I just use what I or Byron has collected
recently where they seem to fit when the time comes. Usually I try to do
this after the lyrics have been written if I am using something I
didn’t already have planned for a particular song.

Byron C. Miller: I find a great deal of the samples
and it’s usually a process of me going through a number of films I love
and going to scenes where I remember something interesting being said,
and then if it seems like it could work for something I sample it. Then I
give Jasyn all of these samples and he goes through them when it’s time
to add one to a song. Sometimes him or I will be watching something and
be like “man we have to sample that!” Or Jasyn will
occasionally give me a certain thing to search for like someone talking
about the end of the world, or someone talking about fucking and eating
somebody.

Fatally Yours: Byron, I was surprised to learn you made a vampire film not too long ago called Night. Can you tell us what that experience was like?

Byron C. Miller: I’ve been writing scripts and
making short horror films since middle school, so it was a great feeling
of accomplishment to Write, Produce, Direct, Shoot, and Edit a feature
length motion picture for under 7grand and get distribution for it. It
was a lot of hard work and a huge learning experience, and I loved every
single minute.

Fatally Yours: I hear that many industrial bands also
contributed to the soundtrack and that Jasyn actually did the soundtrack
for Night. Byron, can you tell us what it was like putting together the music for the film?

Byron C. Miller: It was really just working with
Jasyn, explaining what each scene meant to me to give him as much
insight as possible for him to create the music for the film. As far as
the bands go, some were on Sector 9 Studios, the record label then owned
by Jasyn and Alex Matheu (Negative Format), the rest were on our
European label Out Of Line. So we had an idea of the bands and some of
the songs we wanted and once we had permission we simply began plugging
in the songs where they worked best.

Fatally Yours: Byron has also directed several God Module videos. Do you plan to direct more and make more films, Byron?

Byron C. Miller: As far as the videos go, yes I
certainly hope to do more. We talk about new videos constantly, and I’ve
probably had 5 ideas for songs for each release. It’s just that
sometimes we get too busy with other things, and the videos go to the
background.

Fatally Yours: Jasyn, you scored Byron’s film Night. How did that experience differ from writing music for God Module?

Jasyn Bangert: It was very different from writing for God Module of course but at the same time it was something I have always wanted to do. Night
was a very early version of the work I hope to be able to do in the
future and it was a very good learning experience. I want my style to
fall somewhere in-between the simple and ultra effective electronics of
early John Carpenter film scores and the unsettling beauty of the work
that Angelo Badelamenti has done with David Lynch. I think music and
sound add just as much to a film as the imagery if done correctly.

Fatally Yours: Where do you see God Module going in the next few years? What are each of your plans and goals for the band?

Jasyn Bangert: After a few years of not being as
active as I would have liked to be I am very happy with the current
direction of the band. We just finished our first US tour in quite a
while and it was very well received. The new EP has gotten great
reactions from fans and critics and I think the next CD will take us
even closer to where we are supposed to be within the realms of music we
exist in and beyond! I plan to keep pushing God Mod everywhere possible
in the next couple years and exposing my music to people who should
already know about it but don’t. I think we have the ability to
crossover and appeal to many different scenes if given the chance. I
want people to find out that not all good hard, dark music has to be
metal.

Byron C. Miller: My goal is to help make it bigger,
starting with our recent tour it’s time to really push things to a whole
new level. A new world of gods and monsters.

Fatally Yours: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Jasyn Bangert: Thank you for your support of my music and long live the HORROR!